Overcoming thermal quenching in upconversion nanoparticles

Abstract

Thermal quenching that is characterized by loss of light emission with increasing temperature is widely observed in luminescent materials including upconversion nanoparticles, causing problems in technological applications such as lighting,...

A Review of Inorganic Scintillation Crystals for Extreme Environments

“…Lanthanide dopant ions tend to involve multiple energy transfer steps, inducing energy hopping to reach a quenching center far apart. Because the energy transfer mechanism is extensive, temperature dependency on the thermal quenching process is rather complex [11].…”

Thermal enhancement of upconversion in lanthanide-doped Gd2Ti2O7 crystals via fast evaporation in a sol–gel procedure

“…For instance, the negative thermal quenching effect was reported in the ytterbium (Yb 3+ ) sensitized upconversion (UC) nanocrystals (NCs), which was attributed to the enhanced energy transfer efficiency from Yb 3+ sensitizers to activators (Er 3+ , Ho 3+ or Tm 3+ ) upon increasing the temperature. 29–32 The major limitation of these UCNCs is the irreversibility after heating over 433 K. Upon using the matrix of Yb 2 WO 12 or Sc 2 Mo 3 O 12 prepared via a high temperature solid-state reaction method, the phenomenon of the thermal enhancement of UC is achieved owing to the negative lattice expansion promoted energy transfer efficiency, which is reversible in the range of 303–573 K. 33,34 However, these products belong to micron-sized bulk materials, and it remains a challenge to realize the fully reversible negative thermal quenching effect over a broad temperature range in lanthanide doped UC systems with submicron sizes.…”

Controlling upconversion in emerging multilayer core–shell nanostructures: from fundamentals to frontier applications

“…227 These designs with different or even contrary changes in emission intensities are capable of realizing ultrasensitive thermometry towards various temperature measurement scenarios. [228][229][230][231] On the other hand, this research may also benefit from other effective optical designs. A combination of two kinds of upconversion processes, namely the regular upconversion luminescence and second harmonic generation, can be also used for ultrasensitive temperature sensing.…”